Christian Heyward looked dapper in slacks, a white dress shirt and neutral brown and gold tie for his big nationally televised announcement. Then came the red hat. Much to the dismay of San Diego State fans, it had gold trim, not black.

Heyward, the 6-2, 270-pound defensive end from Point Loma, accepted a scholarship offer to USC on Wednesday morning at the San Diego Hall of Champions. Considered the top recruit in the San Diego Section, Heyward said he had narrowed 40 scholarship offers down to Oregon, USC and San Diego State.

"This was a tough decision for me," Heyward said. "But in the end it came down to what was best for me, what's going to make me a better player and what's going to help get me to where I need to go."

According to the recruiting service Rivals.com, Heyward was the 94th-ranked football prospect in the country and the sixth-ranked defensive tackle -- though he said he'd prefer to play defensive end.

Heyward said his impression of SDSU changed slightly when former head coach Brady Hoke took the same position at Michigan three weeks ago. He said the fact that Hoke had coached the defensive line at San Diego State was a major selling point for him.

"I think if Brady stayed, that really would have made it a harder decision," said Point Loma High coach Mike Hastings. "He was strongly considering San Diego State. But he's not there, so I think it made it easier for him to choose USC."

When it comes to recruiting elite area players, the bridesmaid dresses are starting to pile up for San Diego State. On the day SDSU announced a very respectable 2011 recruiting class that includes five area players, Heyward is certainly an omission. Last week, Vista's Stefan McClure, a highly-touted defensive back, picked Cal over San Diego State and Michigan.

It's the annual February spiel SDSU fans have grown accustomed to. It always comes down to one or two big-name programs ... plus San Diego State. But the Aztecs never get chosen.

"They are close," Heyward said. "I think they are doing everything right. It's just a matter of consistency. I think people just need to see more consistency out of them. They have a good year, then the coach leaves. If they can maintain that success, I think more people will start going."

Consistency might be part of it said head coach Rocky Long. But it's not all of it.

"You can have consistent success and then it still might not happen," Long said. "I've heard this every place I've coached. A lot of kids want to leave home. They don't want to stay close to home. The ones that have more opportunities handed to them to leave, they get it in their mind that's what they should do ... the more highly recruited you are, the more likely you are to leave home.

"It has nothing to do with the local school. The normal fan doesn't realize that. It was the same problem at Oregon, and L.A. and Albuquerque and Fort Worth."